Birds on the Brain: The Neuroscience Behind Songbird Communication and Human Speech

Gene activity is linked to songbirds’ tunes.

Juvenile birds learn the length of the sounds in a song from a false memory introduced via optogenetics, instead of from real interactions with a tutor bird.

Young zebra finches that receive feedback after they sing from a video of a fluffed-up female eventually develop more accurate tunes.

Female zebra finches prefer red-beaked male finches over their orange-beaked counterparts.

Zebra finches sing a special song that appears to help their offspring better adapt to a hotter climate, according to a study.

Bird brains might tell us a lot about how human brains malfunction in diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

A round-up of recent discoveries in behavior research

Both birds and children struggle to learn transitions between syllables, practicing them extensively as they learn to speak or sing.